Romantical Schrödinger Box
by Erin Tesden
Summary: The possibility of having any kind of feelings towards Faris was the most absurd and ridiculous thing in which Okabe Rina could think. As if she could come to love a person so annoying, talkative... Talented, extroverted, pleasant, intelligent... Beautiful... [Fem-Okabe/Faris]
1. Prologue

'

**I came up with this fic while writing my other story about Steins:Gate _Androgynous Love Paranoia_. However, unlike the previous, this one will focus entirely on romance and beautiful fluff, do not expect a deep plot or anything. This will be a 100% ship fic, with one of my favorite Steins;Gate´s couples: Okabe x Faris.**

**Things you should know before start reading:**

**1 - To ensure the fluff, this story takes place in one of the world lines of the Delta Attractor Field (Divergence 3 - 3.99%), where SERN is not a threat, and Tennouji, aka Mr. Braun, and Moeka are normal people with also normal lives and jobs.**

**2 - As the description indicates, in this story Okabe is a girl. Specifically born under the name of Okabe Rina. Why...? BECAUSE! In this link you can see an illustration of what she would looks like: erintesden DOT deviantart DOT com/art/Okarin-765404224**

**3 - Despite being inspire on my previous story. I have to clarify that there is no connection between both of them, so it is not necessary to read _Androgynous Love Paranoia_ to understand this one.**

**Anyway, I hope you like it.**

* * *

**Romantical Schrodinger Box.**

**Prologue.**

* * *

A girl's first date is usually a very important event in their lives.

And even if it not results perfect, it should at least be fun... Or at least not a complete disaster.

"Let's go eat MayQueen Nyan-Nyan, Okarin!"

...So it was obvious why Okabe Rina was frankly speechless and wondering why Daru, the perverted bastard she had as friend, was inviting her out to eat.

Maybe his lusty otaku brain had finally melted.

Or maybe he had stopped caring about his own life, and wanted to make her angry so she would end his misery.

It was working.

"Stop looking at me like that, Okarin, I didn't mean it like that." Said the boy scared.

"Then how?" Rina asked, frowning.

"It's about Faris-tan!" Exclaimed Daru with a serious expression.

Faris Nyan-Nyan, the Maid Queen of Akiba. And worker on the maid cafe MayQueen Nyan-Nyan.

Rina had heard so much about her, even though she still had no face to match the name with.

On one hand, Faris seemed to be Daru's waifu, his obsession, his unrequited love, pick anyone.

It would be simply disgusting if Rina didn't know the Otaku so well.

Actually around one year ago, despite being a pervert, Daru didn't show that much interest in _3D Girls_. Then one day he decided to visit the maid cafe he had heard so much about, MayQueen, and caput; the Legend of the Powerful Wizard who only liked 2D Girls fell into oblivion. Daru infatuated with Faris completely.

Her mental image of the maid wasn't exactly good at that time, but then somehow Mayuri ended up being hired at MayQueen and started working with Faris.

Since then Mayuri, her clumsy but dear childhood friend, didn't stop mentioning all the time how kind and great Faris was. Talking about her as if she were her older sister.

So Rina had to accept that her opinion of the maid was wrong. After all, clumsy and naive or not, Mayuri was actually relatively good at judging people. That didn't stop the slight discomfort and jealousy she felt at knowing how much Mayuri seemed to appreciate Faris. Almost feeling as if the maid wanted to replace her as the person closest to Mayuri.

"What about Faris?" Rina asked Daru, already in a bad mood.

"Huh, you knew that Faris-tan is Akiba's Rai-Net Champion, right, Okarin?"

She didn't answer. Of course she already knew.

It was because of this that Daru had decided to learn to play the cards game with the sole purpose of trying to impress Faris. And meanwhile, Mayuri had become a great fan of the anime, obsessing over the merchandising in the process. So in that way, Rina ended strongly associating the franchise with Faris, and began to consider it childish and annoying despite not having even seen the anime nor played the game before...

In the end, that was just another piece of the huge puzzle that was Faris Nyan-Nyan. But a piece that only complicated things...

There was a Faris who appealed her fat friend perverted tastes.

A Faris who seemed to be a wonderful sempai and was extremely loved by Mayuri.

And a Faris that was a cards game champion and had already defended her title multiple times.

How was Rina supposed to accept that those three and so different girls were actually the same person. It didn't make sense, and the worst was that it wasn't everything yet...

"Well..." Daru decided to continue after Rina didn't say anything else. "This year's Rai-Net Championship is next week, and I had the intention of attending as a spectator to support Faris-tan, but by the time I went to buy my ticket, it turns out they had already run out." The Otaku lowered his head, totally desolate.

"What a sad story, I almost cried." She said deadpanned and crossed her arms. "But what does that have to do with me?"

"It turns out that MayQueen is raffling a couple of tickets, the only requirement to participate in the raffle is to go to MayQueen with someone and buy the new dish for couples."

"Why not invite Mayuri?" Rina questioned him immediately, totally disturbed by the image of Daru and her in something so similar to a date. She almost felt guilty for involving Mayuri, but she was the obvious best solution. Mayuri was prettier, kinder, and innocent enough to not refuse Daru's offer. In fact, being about free food, she would be happy to accept.

"I've already tried." He said depressed. "Faris-tan said we wouldn't be able to participate in the raffle because Mayuri was an employee in MayQueen, she said it wouldn't be fair if an employee were to win tickets... Come on, Okarin! I'll buy you whatever you want! "

Rina began to ignore Daru's verbiage and sighed. Finally, there it was. One of the most complicated things about Faris: Her status in MayQueen.

At first Rina had assumed Faris was a senior and more experienced maid than Mayuri. Just a sempai.

Rina was wrong.

Faris wasn't just a senior maid, she was THE senior maid; basically the maid in chief, having worked in MayQueen since its very opening.

And that was the truth, but only half of it.

It took Rina a while to understand and accept it, but Faris wasn't just the maid in chief. She was the actual boss. MayQueen's owner and manager, and a fairly good one apparently. It wouldn't be that great if it weren't for the fact that Faris was apparently a year younger than Rina.

In that way, Rina's worst fear at the idea of visiting MayQueen was to not know what version of Faris she would actually meet in there. Or would it end up being a completely different Faris from the ones she already knew about?

It almost seemed as if finding the Organization hideout would be easier than understanding what kind of person Faris really was.

"So, Okarin, what do you say?" Daru asked.

"It's fine." She was going to regret that decision. She was totally sure, but she was also really curious.

* * *

Faris sneezed, emitting a small and adorable sound, while covering her nose and mouth with a handkerchief.

"Are you okay, Faris-chan?" Asked one of the maids on duty.

Faris nodded. "I'm fine, Ai-chan, thank you." She said slightly dizzy.

She had been sneezing a lot since a while ago. Apparently someone was talking about her.

Maybe it was some brave but kind rebel noble from the Overlord's Dominion, looking for a Mistress to serve for the rest of their lives. Surely her soul mate from another life...

At least, that was what the prediction of her horoscope in the newspaper entailed.

Apparently, she would meet a person she had heard about many times before from her friends. And in this person she would know love.

* * *

**I hope you liked it. Leave your criticisms and questions in the reviews.**

**Until the next chapter**


	2. Dual Parallel Meeting

**Okay, here****it's finally, the first****chapter.**

**This time we'll have more of****Faris/Rumiho's POV, which will have****a****quite different narrative in comparison with Okabe's POVs.****I hope it's not confusing, I just wanted to add some dye of unreality and fantasy****when it comes to Faris.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Dual Parallel Meeting**

* * *

Akiha Rumiho wasn't the type of person to believe in horoscopes. The thought that the random position of stars at her birth could have the ability to predict her future was something ridiculous for her. And she felt the same about other fortune telling methods, stuff like astral travel, etc.

Rumiho was a kind but realistic girl, much more mature than other girls and boys her age, though more than by choice it had been the result of the heavy burden of responsibilities placed on her shoulders since she was young.

But at that precise moment, Rumiho didn't exist. Well, at least not in consciousness.

Meanwhile, her body acted as a medium for the millenary and almighty Cat Maid of the Eastern Abyss, Faris Nyan-Nyan.

Unlike Rumiho, Faris could afford to believe in horoscopes and that kind of stuff, after all, she was the proof that all those fantastic and magical things really existed.

So after reading the newspaper's prediction she immediately started to look for her predestined one.

She did it not only for her own sake, but also for Rumiho's sake. Lately, the young girl just _woke up_ and took control of her body for a few hours a week, shutting in herself the rest of the time and by her own choice, which saddened Faris. She wanted Rumiho to be happy too, to be free to be herself, after all, despite the thousands of years age gap between them, they were still both the same person at the end.

It was then that Faris heard the entrance bell ring, while two people entered MayQueen.

The boy with a barrel-like body was unmistakable; it was Hashida Itaru, aka Daru, one of MayQueen's best clients.

He was a little... Well, quite perverted actually, but he was a harmless and quite funny guy, so he had become one of her friends. Actually, Daru seemed to be infatuated by her as a result of having fallen victim to her demonic allure, although there was little she could do about it. On one hand, despite the appreciation she felt for him, Faris didn't see Daru in a romantic way, and besides, the Fates had already predicted hundreds of years ago that her true love would be one of the few people capable of resisting her demonic aura and love both her and Rumiho for the people they were on the inside...

However, at that moment, the person who really called her attention the most was the one next to Daru; a really tall girl, surpassing even Daru, although relatively thin, resulting somewhat lanky. Her hair was black and slightly disheveled, reaching about 15-20 centimeters below her shoulders. She wore a simple light gray t-shirt under a lab coat, a brown long skirt, and green sports shoes.

Leaving aside the lab coat, her clothes were quite casual but, despite the skirt, not too feminine. Her clothes, hair and lack of makeup, seemed to indicate the girl didn't seemed to care that much about her looks, even though Faris found her pretty cute in a strange way she didn't know how to describe.

The question now was the girl's identity. Faris knew that Daru didn't have a girlfriend, but she knew that he had another close female friend besides Mayuri and her.

So it could only be that person; Okabe Rina, Mayuri and Daru's best friend.

The first unknown/new person she meet that day... And it was another girl.

Faris tilted her head meditatively, and after a few seconds she just smiled.

Faris supposed that a girl was fine too.

* * *

Rina's eyes widened as she noticed the petite girl approaching towards them.

She was like a character straight out of an anime, wearing MayQueen's beautiful maid uniform, which seemed to have been made specifically for her, with everything and cat ears. Her pink hair, matching her pupils, gathered in two pigtails and framing her absurdly gorgeous face. What caught Rina's attention the most was how silky her hair looked. Unlike Mayuri, who always had to wear an orange wig while working as a maid to look more visually striking, there was no way that this girl's beautiful hair was fake. As absurd as it was, the girl in front of Rina seemed to have actually dyed her hair pink... And the most absurd thing of all was how nice and natural it looked.

"Welcome back, Daru-nyan!" She said happily, and Rina wasn't able to feel anything artificial or false in her voice. Her words were genuine.

It was her, Faris Nyan-Nyan, the Great Maid Queen. Possessing a smile and loveliness powerful enough to be considered a force of nature... And Rina thought she could go against her?

Before she could even try to escape from the scene to never return, the catgirl's eyes moved towards her and her smile grew, stopping Rina in her tracks, like a huge bear trap closing around her entire body.

"I didn't know Daru-nyan had a girlfriend! Congratulations-nyan! "

Both Daru and her looked at each other and then back at Faris.

"She's not my girlfriend, Faris-chan..." Daru said with a pale face.

"He is not my boyfriend!" Rina exclaimed at the same time, feeling a chill running down her spine at the mere idea of Daru and she being more than just friends. The scariest thing is that it wasn't even the first time someone thought that about them.

Faris let out a stupidly cute giggle at their reactions.

"I was just teasing you-nyan!" She said, like she was playing pranks on them. After a few seconds her expression became more relaxed and her gaze fixed on Rina, making her slightly nervous.

This was turning out to be worse than Rina imagined. It had to be her horrible luck once again. Faris seemed to be one of those extroverted, beautiful and popular people who always spent time mocking her. Just the kind of people with whom she had it harder to deal with.

"Daru-nyan and Mayuri-nyan have told me a lot about you. Nice to meet you finally, Okarin-nyan!" Faris smile at that moment could easily overcome the sun's glow... But even that was unable to prevent a grimace from appearing on Rina's face, while at the same time turning her face red with anger.

...At least she expected the sudden blush on her cheeks to be anger

"Who are you calling _Okarin_?" Rina let out somberly, noticing in her peripheral view how Daru lowered his head and sighed. The only people who called her that way were Mayuri and Daru, and only Mayuri could get away with it.

"...Okarin-nyan?" The girl said with some confusion, and Rina's expression only soured more. Maid Queen or not, if Rina didn't stop her insolence right now, things would only escalate.

"NO! You are completely wrong! My name is _Hououin Kyouko__!_ Great Mad Scientist and this world future master! The mastermind after the overthrow of the current world order! ...And the Spear of Longinus that will pierce and stop the heartbeat of The Organization..." Rina recited the small presentation she had practiced before, knowing in advance that things would end up like this sooner than later. Adding impact by changing her voice tone multiple times, in addition to gesturing exaggeratedly and ending dramatically.

It had been even more perfect than it seemed in her mind, and her words seemed to have worked, considering Faris's stupefied expression.

...And then the catgirl's eyes started to water.

"EH!?" Rina screeched and recoiled in horror.

Her intention was not to make her cry!

Put some fear in his impertinent little heart? Yes. But make her cry? Of course not!

"I... I-It wasn't my intention-" Rina tried to carefully apologize to her, when she felt a slight pressure wrapping around her.

Faris was embracing her.

"Kyouko..." Faris muttered, while basically burying her face in Rina's chest.

Rina could do little but stay paralyzed and try to ignore how warm and soft the other girl body was.

It wasn't exactly easy; every tiny cell of her body didn't wanted to do anything but dig without stopping until reach the center of the earth and just die of embarrassment.

The only thing that made it even worse... _Why__ the __hell did it felt so good?_

And suddenly the embrace stopped, and Rina wasn't sure if she was relieved, or disappointment that it was all over so fast...

But she didn't had much time to think about it, before Faris took her hands and looked at her with the most dreamy expression she had ever seen.

"I've been waiting so long for you, nyan..."

"E-Eh?" She asked weakly. What the hell was even happening?

"Hououin Kyouko, one of the three Devas trained by Gilgamesh-sama to maintain balance in this world." She said as she let go of Rina's hands and stepped back a few steps, pulling a small handkerchief out of her pocket to dry her tears. "I regret not having recognized Kyouko immediately; I'll be very happy to serve under your whenever you need me from now on-nyan." Faris clasped her hands and made a small bow.

Ah. Faris had only been messing with her. Rina nodded expressionless, as she felt her train of thought derail and burst into flames. Now what was she supposed to feel...? Confusion about Faris irrational behavior? Ashamed by having felt so unusually comfortable in the other girl arms, although it were for just a moment? Or anger at having fallen into Faris game without doing anything to stop it? A combination of the three seemed the most appropriate...

"All right. Follow me-nyan." She said, addressing both of them, again in a lively voice, as if nothing had happened.

Rina really wasn't liking this girl not one bit.

* * *

The maid entered MayQueen's kitchen after taking Daru and Rina's order; an extra-large ice cream, along with a couple of cupcakes for Daru... And just a black coffee for Rina.

Faris sighed. Things could have been worse, she supposed. From now on she'd need to be a bit more careful about the way she acted around Rina. She couldn't continue being that bold anymore or she would end up messing everything.

The truth was that, despite the thousands of years of experience that Faris had as a maid, even she could get a little nervous when she wanted to make a good impression on a person she had just met. However, instead of acting clumsy or shy about it as an average person, she used to act rather hastily and rash, which resulted in her going perhaps a little too far with the hug... As pleasant as it felt...

Faris shook her head, trying to get rid of that thought and the warmth that was beginning to burn in her cheeks; She had to stay calm. Although that didn't stop a smile to grow on her face.

Even before she met her in person, her image of Rina had always been quite positive. After all it was the girl that Mayuri, one of her closest friends, practically saw as family. And even Daru, who always seemed a bit rude and uncaring while talking about Rina, came to express without even noticing it a certain degree of respect towards her, showing the actual trust he had for her.

So now Faris was almost completely sure that Rina was the one; her predestined one. And it made a lot of sense, after all, Rina seemed to be the same kind of person as Rumiho.

Behind that moody mask she used, there was hiding a shy and, Faris would even venture to say, even a bit insecure girl. And like Rumiho, that girl had managed to create a set of barriers that practically isolated her from everyone else at her surroundings.

So if Faris truly wanted to meet the person hiding behind the almost impenetrable tower, she would first have to get to know the door's Guardian.

Hououin Kyouko... A tsundere? Yeah. Faris was almost 100% sure about it.

Initially, the girl seemed expressionless and even somewhat bitter, as if she obviously didn't want to be there. Although Faris noticed easily how the older girl was staring at her whenever she believed Faris wasn't aware of it.

But then Faris ended up calling Rina by her cute nickname, after deciding that calling her by her last name would be too cold and distant while using her first name would only make the older girl feel even more uncomfortable that she already was, and what was the result? That the girl responded with an apparent irritation that did little to hide the embarrassment that she actually seemed to feel, an image that was etched on Faris's retina. And when Faris hugged her afterwards, she blushed so much that Faris almost feared for a moment that Rina was going to implode. She looked so adorable!

It was unfortunate that Faris couldn't keep on teasing her without risking making her truly angry. But at the end, even if it took her one thousand years she wasn't going to give up. Little by little Faris would pass through Rina's defenses. And maybe then, just then, she could go back to hugging the other girl to her heart's content.

* * *

**I hope you liked it.**

**Because I have to deal with college, all chapters will be relatively short like this one.****I will try to update around one or two chapters per month.**

**Until next time, pals.**


	3. Inequivocal Intermitent Advances - Part1

**Okay, here is the second chapter and the beginning of a beautiful friendship.**

**Not too much dialogue in this particular chapter, more than anything introspection of our two protagonists.** **Technically this is the first part of a longer chapter, but I decided** to **split** it**.** **You can count it as a mini-arc.**

**I** **do** **not**** even** **know why** **,** **but** **I included** **a few** **references** **to two old animes that are among my favorites.** **Try to guess** **which ones** **.**

* * *

**Chapter** **2:** **Inequivocal Intermitent Advances** **\- Part 1.**

* * *

Rina wasn't going back to MayQueen ever!

…Well. Technically she was still there, but even so she had decided to not return.

On one hand she felt incredibly annoyed. But mostly she just wanted to be as small as possible and disappear from that place, as impossible as that was considering her height.

Having a jealous Daru sitting on the other side of the table and wanting to kill her with his stare didn't help at all. Even the exquisitely prepared black coffee tasted bad in such situation.

And it was all Faris's fault! That crazy clingy girl!

At least the cat-maid seemed to have been able to read the atmosphere enough to stop trying to invade her personal space after that. But it was too late... Faris had already been included in the Great Mad Scientist Hououin Kyouko's Black List!

If only the naive cat-girl knew it, she would stop throwing subtle apologetic glances and would bow to her, apologizing and asking for absolution for her great insolence...

A _mischievous_ smile appeared on her face after imagining it.

"Nyan! Kyouko's smile is so cute! Wouldn't you consider working part-time here-nyan?" Said Faris as if nothing.

"N-NO WAY!"

'She didn't want to return to MayQueen EVER again...!

* * *

She just came back the next week...

While she was practically dragged by Daru to MayQueen for the ticket raffle's result, Rina couldn't help but wonder if everything wasn't just a twisted and complicated plan prepared by The Organization with the aim of destroying and completely annihilating the little sanity she had left. After all, if one Daru could be unbearable sometimes, how was she supposed to deal with being in a place full of Daru-like otakus? It was practically like her personal hell; an existential nightmare...

The only positive thing about it was the fact that Faris seemed too busy making sure that the event went smoothly, to have opportunity to annoy her like she did last time.

However, instead of relieved she felt strangely upset for some reason she couldn't understand, especially whenever she saw the cat-girl interacting amiably with any of the other customers.

And of course, Daru and her didn't win the tickets.

* * *

And so it passed another week.

Rina hadn't returned to MayQueen, as she had promised herself. Meanwhile, she was lying on the sofa in her apartment, reading her favorite magazine about scientific and technological advances.

Her attention was in a conspiratorial article about SERN, which seemed pretty ridiculous and implausible, but interesting nevertheless. And more than anything, It seemed an excellent way to get distracted and ignore the bustle that Daru and Mayuri, who were sitting in front the room's PC, were doing while watching the Rai-Net Tournament's live streaming.

_Our__ source says SERN has been investing__ a__large__part of its funds in research black holes..._ Said the article in its first paragraph.

'…FARIS MOVEMENTS ARE AS DEVASTATING AS ALWAYS...! 'The tournament commentator exclaimed.

"YAY! Mayushii believes in you! Win, Faris-chan!" That was Mayuri.

"YES! Miracles can only happen if everyone believes! ...Just kidding." And that, of course, was Daru.

_...Rumors say they have already entered the testing phase, sending test subjects__through__wormholes created thanks to their__latest collider..._

'...THE INVICT CHAMPION'S TACTICS ARE ONLY COMPARABLE WITH HER BEAUTY!'

"100% CERTAIN! I want to take Faris-tan home!"

"Okarin said that was wrong, Daru-kun."

"...I was just kidding again, Mayushii."

...Articles about cases of jellified corpses across the globe and different times seem to point to possible SERN experiments that have gone wrong…

'...It's like many fans comment. Trying to trick Faris is as impossible as trying to trick Buda!'

Rina put the magazine down, completely fed up, and moved towards her two best friends, pulling with her one of the empty chairs. Without saying a word, she sat down in the middle of both of them and taking Daru's face, moved him aside so that she could watch better what was happening on the screen.

It was useless, completely useless. She wouldn't be able to concentrate on the article with all the scandal. At least now she could try to understand what the point about the whole tournament was.

"Who is that guy?" He asked, ignoring Daru's glare as she pointed out Faris's opponent. It was a scary-looking blond and tanned guy, dressed what looked like black leather or something.

"...That's 4°C." Daru replied after releasing a sigh. "Faris-tan nemesis; before she started competing professionally he had been Rai-Net's champion. Since then he hasn't stopped trying to take revenge on Faris by taking his title back from her; but still Faris-tan always wins at the end."

She let out a snort. The story between those two almost sounded like something from an anime; the blond's stupid nickname didn't help his case. What a chuuny...

"Then it's a battle between weirdos..." She said with an expression of disinterest, but kept her eyes fixed on the cat-girl and her actions.

An average person would surely feel uncomfortable and nervous when put and discussed by others in that way on TV, but when she looked at Faris, she only detected calmness, confidence and absolute concentration. Almost as if the only people there were she and her opponent; It was so natural, as if Faris had been born to be there and sweep the ground with her opponent.

If it made sense to call THAT an opponent...

Rina could hardly claim to understand the game and its rules, but even in her eyes it was very easy to read the atmosphere that had formed between the two Rai-Net duelists. The blond weirdo just yelled and hurled insults here and there, acting rudely and arrogantly as if he were still the champion and not just a second-rate idiot. Meanwhile, it was more than obvious that Faris, who remained totally impassive, was the one who had the situation's complete control, masterfully making her movements and controlling her opponent's, as if she was a master of orchestra or a puppeteer...

After observing Faris's inevitable, expected and crushing victory over 4°C, Rina rose from her chair in silence, picked up her magazine and sat back down on the couch.

She let out a sigh before starting to read again. She had to swallow her pride and recognize, even if she was never going to say it out loud, that the cat-girl was amazing.

If she could get Faris to use her ability to plan battle strategies and manipulate her enemies into something more than just a duel card game, the cat-girl could become a great addition in her dangerous and inevitable final battle against The Organization... At least, if the cat-girl didn't make her die of embarrassment before.

* * *

**And that's all for this occasion.**

**I already have already finished the second part of this** **chapter** **where we will** **return to Faris!** **:3**

**I will publish it once I have finished** **chapter** **3\. I will try to always have an extra chapter done** **so as not to make very long breaks between chapters.**


	4. Inequivocal Intermitent Advances - Part2

**Second chapter finally.** ** and back to** **Faris** **pov. **

* * *

**Chapter 2: Inequivocal Intermitent Advances** **\- Part 2** **.**

* * *

Faris felt a little uneasy.

It had been several days since the tickets raffle and Rina hadn't returned, and as foolish as it might sound, Faris really missed her presence.

It was weird; she just knew Rina for around two and a half weeks, and she hadn't even spoken with her for that long, and even so, she really wanted to see her again. Faris could remember accurately the horoscope prediction from the day she had met the introverted older girl, and wondered if maybe the strong interest she had for Rina was making it some kind of self-fulfilling prophecy; Faris was so curious about the other girl, she wanted to know more about her, from the kind of person she was up to the kind of person she wanted to be, things she liked and those she disliked, etc.

Faris had developed a small crush in Rina without even trying. However, she has begun to fear that Rina maybe wouldn't appear by MayQueen again.

It was extremely difficult for her not to think negatively about it; maybe she had gone too far with his assertiveness, and now Rina hated her and I didn't want to have anything to do with her...

But during the raffle when Faris had tried to make peace between them by maintaining her distance and not bothering Rina, the older girl had seemed even more upset and in bad mood than before.

_'As if __Rina-san__thought I was ignoring her..._' Faris thought and smiled modestly. If that really bothered Rina so much, then maybe Rina didn't dislike her as much as she had imagined, but maybe even the opposite ...

If Rina returned, she would have to find a balance on how to treat her. She would still be as friendly with Rina as she was with all her other clients and friends, but she would be careful not to offend her, or embarrass her... At least not too much…

She was already in too deep to resist the temptation…

Engraved in her mind indelibly was how absurdly cute Rina's cheeks were when she blushed; the adorable stutter that came to mix with the embarrasment and anger on her voice when she teased her; the slight tremor of her body and the funny expression she made while trying to glare at her and avoid her eyes both at the same time... Yes. It would be difficult for Faris to control herself enough not to tease Rina again, so she assumed it would be fine if she just did it a little.

Faris closed her eyes and began to breathe and exhale deeply, trying to calm down... Maybe she was a bit sadistic and had never noticed it. That would explain why Daru's attitude had never bothered her; a small part of Faris was probably as perverted as her corpulent friend…

And that was seriously a scary thought.

"Mou." She lowered her head slightly depressed and stomped on the ground hard, as if she were throwing a tantrum.. Perfect, now she felt even more restless than before.

After a few seconds to recompose her calm, she heard the door bell's sound and turned with her perfect smile in place in her face once again, to give her welcome to whoever had entered.

It was Rina.

"Faris NyanNyan, I've come to bargain."

* * *

Both were standing there looking at each other without saying anything.

Faris looked confused and uncertain of what to answer.

And Rina... She just wanted to be crushed by a meteorite and die or be summoned to another world far away from there in that very moment.

'_Faris NyanNyan, I've come to bargain._' And where the hell had that even come from...?!

It was probably the most ridiculous and embarrassing thing she had said in her life, even though it had sounded so great in her mind when she had rehearsed it on her way to MayQueen! And now she didn't even have an idea about how to continue the conversation.

"W-What?" Rina asked the other girl, who looked at her as if she were a circus phenomenon. Fortunately, those words were enough to get Faris out of whatever she was thinking.

"Welcome again, Kyouko!" Said Faris happily once more, and without being able to do anything about it Rina found herself being pulled by the cat-girl towards one of the empty tables. "I thought Kyouko wasn't coming back. I was missing you-nyan!" She said sweetly turning to look her in the eyes. Again, there was only sincerity and happiness in them.

Rina looked down feeling kind of embarrassed, only to fix her eyes in the hand Faris was using to hold hers; the maid's hand was small and soft, with thin and long fingers. Curiously, with how delicate her hands looked, Rina could tell with certainty that there was strength in them. It made sense, considering that Faris seemed to be as hardworking as Mayuri and Daru had claimed.

Her concentration broke when she heard someone clearing her throat. Looking up again, she found Faris looking at her with an amused expression and her cheeks slightly red. It took Rina a moment to notice that the two of them were already in front of one of the available tables and even then she still hadn't let Faris's hand go. Feeling as if her blood had started to boil, Rina shrieked and withdrew her hand as if her live depended on it.

Immediately, before the absolutely embarrassing prospect of having to explain the exaggeratedness of her reaction, Rina held her guilty arm with her other hand by the wrist and began to move it uncontrollably.

"M-MY ARM!" Rina yelled, feigning pain. "The darkness of my arm is taking control of me! Run and hide, foolish cat-girl, before it's too late...!" Perfection, simple perfection... That was her infallible technique to escape uncomfortable situations and/or change the conversation topic. It worked with Luka all the time and it shouldn't be different here, especially if Faris opted to follow her game as she did last time.

Rina still remembered Daru's words about it.

_'That's the special ability of Faris-tan Stand! __[CENSORED BY COPYRIGHT]__!'_ He had said it while doing a ridiculous and bizarre pose that Rina wanted to fully erase from her memory. _'She can take other people illusions and make them her own to increase her power exponentially_._'_ As annoying as such skill was, it would be useful on this particular occasion. Faris would bite the hook for sure.

And she did, but not in the way Rina expected. The tiny kitchen knife that Faris pulled out of nowhere was a clear indication of that.

"Resist a little more, Kyouko!" She exclaimed with an obviously fake expression of concern. "If you allow me, I can help you. You just have to let me remove the cursed arm from your body, to prevent the dark energy from spreading and taking over your soul. Once I expunge the evil from it by making a thousand glazed donuts offering to The Eldest, I'll put your arm back and you'll be like new-nyan!" She began to take small steps towards Rina while smiling widely, not even pretending that the situation was serious anymore.

Faris was mocking her again!

"THAT'S N-NOT NECESSARY! T-The wickedness on my arm is again under my control, but t-thank you very much!" She exclaimed as she moved her arms defensively.

"It was nothing, Kyouko." Said the cat-girl, returning the knife to the table, then taking out a small notebook and a pen from one of her uniform's pockets. "Take a seat and tell me what you want to eat-nyan."

"The same as last time." She take a seat feeling somewhat exhausted from the previous exchange.

Meanwhile, Faris wrote the order in her notebook and nodded.

"A black coffee, then. I'll be back in an instant-nyan." The girl began to walk quickly towards the kitchen, while Rina remained seated, feeling uncomfortable. She had to stop delaying everything and make her intentions clear before she ended making a fool of herself even more; something that didn't even seemed possible at the point.

Before she could thing deeper about it, Faris was already returning from the kitchen holding a tray in her right hand... It was amazing how easily and confidently she could move around at such speed without fearing that something could fall from the tray.

Once in front of the table, Faris moved the coffee cup, along with one of sugar and one of cream, and finally a teaspoon from the tray to the table. Her movements were extremely fluid and fast. It made sense considering she had probably done them a thousand times already.

It was actually surprisingly beautiful, to see her movements...

"Anything else, Kyouko-nyan?" She said holding the tray with both hands and smiling at her as if nothing completely amazing have just happened.

"I..." She tried to start, but the nerves didn't let her. Then she frowned; she could not continue being this weak. She was the great Hououin Kyouko, goddammit!

So without saying anything, she gathered all her courage and took the coffee cup. Then, without adding it anything, she drank it in one gulp.

It was a bad idea.

"No, Rina! It's still hot!" Faris exclaimed worried, and she was right to be. Rina could feel the coffee burn her throat, the pain was such that she didn't even notice how Faris had called her.

After some seconds of pain and discomfort, she felt how Faris put her beautiful hands on her shoulders to try to help her, Rina stood up abruptly and looked into her eyes.

"...I-I'm only here because of you!" She yelled without thinking. Faris blinked a couple of times and her face started to turn red; then Rina understood the exact words she had used. "...TO R-RECRUITE YOU!" She added in a hurry.

"Nyan?" Faris tilted her head to one side without understanding.

"The Organization... I-Its shadow is hanging over all of us... If w-we don't create a united front against them, the future will be lost...! If F-Faris were to agree on... Uh. J-Join the cause...? Yes. J-Joining the cause and allowing us to use M-MayQueen as an alternative operations base. It would be incredibly useful..." Rina crossed her arms, to try to appear collected. Trying not to think about how nervous she really was, but it was obvious for the way she was slightly trembling her stuttering all...

Perfection, once again...?

Faris just looked at her amused, but without saying anything. She was genuinely going to make her say it out loud, isn't it...? The small cat-girl truly seemed capable of being that cruel and devious when she wanted to.

"T-Then, what do you think...? C-Can we make an alliance...?" To leave no doubt, she uncrossed her arms and extended one towards Faris with her hand open.

This was the moment in which could depend not only the future of the world but the reality itself... And the cat-girl just kept looking at her, even more amused than before.

As it were, her contingency plan in case of a negative answer was ready: Jump out of the window and run to her apartment while crying. Then she would lock herself in there for a week until she could pretend that nothing had happened.

It was then that she felt the warmth of both of Faris's hands holding hers.

"I also want to be your friend, Kyouko." Said Faris calmly.

In other circumstances Rina would have recriminated Faris about how she was completely misreading the situation and being extremely foolish to even think for a moment that the Great Mad Scientist Hououin Kyouko would have time to make friends...

But with Faris looking at her the way she was, the words just didn't come out of her mouth.

The shine on her eyes wasn't just kindness. There was something more intense and pure, and directed completely towards her... But what? What was the cat-girl thinking?

And why was she not letting her hand go?

* * *

Faris tried not to laugh at Rina shy and embarrased attempts to get her hand out of hers.

She knew her appearance and height made her look like someone fragile and not that strong, so nobody came to imagine how strong her grip could be until it was too late. Ultimately, it was a small prank that Faris had always liked to do to her new friends.

But leaving aside her tendency of wanting to make the other girl blush, Faris genuinely enjoyed the touch of her hand. Like her height, Rina's hands were also large, and yet they were incredibly soft, warm, and comfortable.

Immediately all the doubts and worries that Faris had felt before melted and vanished.

After all, Faris had the slight suspicion that she wasn't the only person with a little crush...

* * *

**And that all of this chapter and mini arc. Nex is gonna be mostly some introspection on the girls opinion on each other.**

**See ya then! Remember to let your opinion at the reviews!**


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